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Learn an overview history of the The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon.
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“B” is for Black Business Districts. Prior to the Civil War, free persons of color in South Carolina owned businesses—generally in the service industry—such as blacksmith and harness shops. These...
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This row of cabins provided housing for slaves on the McLeod Plantation in Charleston County. The photograph was taken in the 1930s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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The board and batten siding on this slave cabin on the Arundel Plantation in Georgetown County was promoted as an efficient form of house construction from 1850 onward, and is widely seen in...
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Summerville vicinity, December 1938. This home of a Native American family, built with a mud chimney, was documented by the Farm Security Administration photographer Marion Post. Courtesy of the...
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During slavery, although plantation owners attempted to control the lives and activities of their slave labor, a vital community based on African traditions of family and kin networks aided African...
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The Works Progress Administration photographer who recorded this structure in the 1930s called it a "Critter Barn." Its design and execution clearly mark the African building influence upon it, even a...
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African herbal medicine traditions remained an important part of health care practices in the slave communities. Even after the war, when the Freedman's Bureau and northern educators tried to teach...
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One of the beliefs that Sea Island African Americans have adapted to South Carolina living is that connection of certain colors to protecting individuals against the hard feelings of the spirit world...
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Alfred Hutty painting of a Lowcountry group of singers. These men and women are quite likely the musicians for a "shout" ceremony, for they are singing and clapping their hands rhythmically. The...